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    Latin America’s First Hydrogen Bus

    Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

    Brazil is known for many “green” experiments and firsts in transportation.  Think of Curitiba’s groundbreaking work on bus rapid transit, Brazil’s pioneering work on sugarcane ethanol and use of flex-fuel vehicles, the country’s aggressive biodiesel program, Vale’s trains run on biodiesel, Itaipu’s development of electric cars that can be charged from biodigestors, and the use […]

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    São Paulo’s Car Emissions Inspection Regime Unconstitutional?

    Sunday, June 14th, 2009

    Stuck in a hotel lobby in the City of São Paulo, waiting since dawn to be allowed to check in my room, I have been catching up on my reading on Latin America environment, health and consumer affairs, in both electronic and print formats.  One of the electronic tidbits I found involves this very city: […]

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    Mato Grosso do Sul to Recycle Auto Glass

    Sunday, May 24th, 2009

    A few months ago the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo (ES) became the first jurisdiction in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to adopt a law on recycling auto glass.  Now it’s been joined by Mato Grosso do Sul (MS). Like the ES law it is modeled after, the new MS Law makes companies that […]

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    The 7th Round of REEEP Projects and LAC

    Thursday, May 7th, 2009

    The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) recently announced that in its seventh funding round it will fund 49 new clean energy projects in 25 countries, including 12 involving nations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). REEEP is “an active, global public-private partnership that structures policy and regulatory initiatives for clean energy, and facilitates financing for […]

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    Fuel Efficiency Labels Hit Brazilian Market

    Friday, April 17th, 2009

    Brazil today presented the first vehicles that will bear the new fuel efficiency labels developed by the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (INMETRO). Brazil was the first to develop a fuel efficiency label for cars, although Chile is also headed in that direction. At the ceremony five manufacturers — Fiat, GM (Chevrolet), […]

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    No More Imported Used Vehicles for Peru After 2010

    Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

    Peru’s Environment Minister wants everyone to be clear: as of 2011, no more used vehicles will be imported through the Tacna Free Zone (ZofraTacna). Dr. Antonio Brack Egg says that starting in 2011 there will be no more importation of used vehicles in order to cut down on vehicle and air pollution, because Peru’s vehicle […]

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    Vehicle Pollution in São Paulo Quadruples Risk of Death

    Saturday, March 7th, 2009

    Vehicle emissions indirectly kill 20 people per day in the São Paulo metropolitan region, according to a study reported in the daily Folha de São Paulo done by the Air Pollution Laboratory of the University of São Paulo’s (USP) Faculty of Medicine (FM). The study was commissioned by the Brazilian Health Ministry (MS) and has […]

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    Trade in Used Cars in the Americas: Good for the Environment?

    Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

    A recent working paper by two US economists looks at the environmental consequences of international trade in durable goods through data regarding trade in used cars between the United States and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  [A tip of the hat to Rob over at Globalisation and the Environment for alerting […]

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    Mexican Consumer Group Demands Vehicle Efficiency Labeling / Los consumidores mexicanos exigen etiquetado de eficiencia y de las emisiones de los vehículos

    Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

    Synopsis in English: A Mexican consumer group, The Power of the Consumer (El Poder del Consumidor – EPC) is calling upon automobile manufacturers to label all new vehicles sold in Mexico regarding their fuel efficiency [kilometers (km) per liter consumed] and greenhouse gas emissions [primarily grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per km], similar to […]

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    Brazilian Fuel Economy Labels for Cars

    Sunday, December 28th, 2008

    Latin America, it seems, is becoming more interested in fuel economy.  I wrote in an August post about Chile’s proposal for a fuel efficiency/greenhouse gas emission label for cars, and more recently about Mexico’s new government website for consumers to use in shopping for fuel-efficient vehicles.  Now it’s Brazil’s turn.  In November its National Institute […]

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